Re: Unicorn vs....

[mpd@netcom.com (Mike Duvos)]

> I have to support Black Unicorn's use of the courts.
> Really, what choices were available?

> So, I, for one, think Black Unicorn took the best and most
> reasonable approach.  I'd be very interested in which course
> (or some other undefined course I didn't think of) that
> the anarchists feel would be reasonable...

Let's see.  I didn't read the thread in question but am reasonably 
familiar with the unsavory debating tactics of Mr. Tmp from other 
discussions.  

As I understand it, Mr. Unicorn and Mr. Tmp, their true identities safely
concealed behind their respective handles, engaged in a minor flame war
and major ass-kicking contest related to the topics of crypto, privacy,
and nasty authoritarian governments.  Mr. Tmp, following his usual modus 
operandi, engaged in some reasonably clever hand-waving, out-of-context 
quoting, misdirection, and misrepresentation at the expense of a number 
of people, including Mr. Unicorn.

All this would have been water under the bridge were it not for the fact 
that Mr. Unicorn, who is wont to travel in circles considerably more 
conservative than most of his political writings, inadvertantly disclosed 
his identity in the thread while showing a friend how to use Usenet.  
Certainly this blunder was no fault of Mr. Tmp.

Ultimately, as a consequence of this leak, certain business associates of
Mr. Unicorn, with no knowlege of Usenet or the context of the discussion,
were exposed to portions of it and the identity of Mr. Unicorn was
disclosed.  Again no fault of Mr. Tmp.

Said business associates, being relatively anal upper-class European 
types with a great respect for authority, were singularly unamused by
Mr. Unicorn's political views and the even worse things falsely 
attributed to him by Mr. Tmp in the heat of discussion.  Mr. Unicorn 
became worried that his business might suffer as a consequence.  Since I 
personally believe that one should not discriminate in doing business 
based on someones political beliefs, I would certainly characterize this 
as a moral failure on the part of Mr. Unicorn's business associates, and 
not the fault of Mr. Tmp.

Finally, Mr. Unicorn, mustering all the legal and financial resources at
his disposal, threatens to skewer Mr. Tmp for alleged libel, and Mr. Tmp,
lacking similar resources and unable to risk a courtroom defeat, is forced
to go on Usenet and publicly eat you-know-what with a large wooden spoon. 

Since Mr. Tmp is not well-liked in the Cypherpunk community, response to 
this sorted tale consists mostly of praise for Mr. Unicorn, and silence 
by those who might have been critical, but who don't want Mr. Unicorn to 
treat them the same way.

I don't think there are any heros in this story.  I think it is a dark 
day for freedom of expression in general and Usenet in particular.  

In the past, I have engaged in lots of heated discussions on many 
hot-button topics, on Usenet and in many other forums, sometimes under my 
own name, and occasionally under a pseudonym.  I have been called many 
vile things along the way, and have had my views on occasion 
misrepresented far more cleverly than Mr. Tmp could imagine or articulate.

Nonetheless, if I found myself losing work because an unpopular view of
mine came to light, filing a lawsuit against another Usenet poster would
be just about the last thing I would think of doing.  Particularly if the
discussion took place under a pseudonym and I was the person who had 
broken my own anonymity.

Antics like this threaten the entire concept of Usenet as a 
reputation-based cooperative anarchy.  The solution to Mr. Tmp is to put 
him in your killfile, not sue him into submission.  

-- 
     Mike Duvos         $    PGP 2.6 Public Key available     $
     mpd@netcom.com     $    via Finger.                      $